Muscotah - Located about 26 miles west of
Atchison,
the first town site was situated about 2 ½ miles northeast of the present town. It was surveyed by
Dr. W. P. Badger and Major C. B. Keith, proprietors, who had settled there in
the spring of 1856. The survey was completed in the fall of that year, and in
1858, Mr. Keith opened the first store. Dr. Badger soon became the local
Indian Agent, a position he held from 1858 to 1862. The town name is of Kickapoo
Indian origin and means "beautiful prairie" or "prairie on fire." The village gained a
post office in December, 1861. In 1867, the Union Pacific Railroad purchased
land on the present-day town site with Dr. W.P. Badger acting as agent for the
railroad. The land was surveyed that fall and the first general store was opened
by a man named Armstrong. Soon, other residents and businesses moved closer to
the tracks and the former town site was then referred to as "Old Muscotah."

A Congregational
Church was built in 1869, which also served the congregation of the Methodist
Episcopalians. A school was built in the 1870s and the Methodists built their
own church in 1879.

By the early 1880s, Muscotah had grown to the largest town
in the county, boasting over 500 residents. it also had four general stores, a
grocery store,
three drug stores, three blacksmith shops, a bakery, meat shop, two shoemaker
shops, two cabinet shops, one pump dealer, a nursery, three hotels, two livery
stables, a grist mill, a school, one lawyer and three doctors.

By
1910, the town remained prosperous and continued to maintain a number of
businesses. At that time its population was nearly 500. Like other small Kansas
towns, Muscotah declined over the next century. Though it still maintains a post
office and about 200 people, the village is filled with abandoned buildings.
It is located about 26 miles west of Atchison
on U.S. Highway 159.

Pleasantly situated on a slight rise in the beautiful valley of Stranger
Creek, Potter got its start as a station on the
Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe Railroad. However, the area's history dates back to the
1840's when
Paschal Pensoneau, an old French trader, established himself on Stranger
Creek in about 1839.

The building of Potter was the third and the most successful attempt to
establish a town in the vicinity. The first attempt was at Mount Pleasant
in 1854. It was one of the first towns started in Kansas, and established
the first post office in Atchison County. It prospered for a time
and was a candidate for the county seat but, gradually declined, and
after the establishment of Potter, quickly became a memory. In the early
days, even before Mount Pleasant was established, a town was laid out near
the big Mercer Spring, just northeast of the present site of Potter, which
was called Martinsburg. However, outside of a small store and a few
cabins, the town never advanced further.

Early in 1886 the Leavenworth, Northern & Southern Railway,
later a branch of the Santa Fe Railroad, and known as the "Pollywog," was built and a station
located where Potter now stands. A town was platted and initially called
Bennett Springs, after James Gordon Bennett, the well known eastern
journalist. The mineral springs on the Masterson farm near the townsite
were attracting considerable attention at the time, and it was thought that
a popular resort could be built up there. The medicinal properties of the water were discovered by
Dr. Rice, a local physician, and subsequently analyzed by
experts, who confirmed Dr. Rice's conclusions, and a number of people
claimed to have used the waters in liver, kidney and other complaints with
good results.

Henry C. Squires, afterwards a Potter banker, conceived the
idea of establishing a health resort here, and named it in honor of James
Gordon Bennett, who, it was thought, would use his influence towards
getting eastern capital interested in the project. The expected financial
backing was not forthcoming; however, and the proposed development of the
springs was never made.

In the meantime, the railroad people had christened the town Potter, in
honor of Joseph Potter, who owned the property owner on which the town was
laid out. For a time, the tax rolls continued to carry the name Bennett
Springs, but it was known to all as Potter. The first lots in the town were sold to James Stalons, who
served for many years as a Justice of the Peace as well as a Minister. The first house on the town site was built by Thomas J.
Potter in 1882. four years before the town was laid out. The first
business was a general store established by Charles Klein.

Potter gained a post office in February, 1888
when it was removed from nearby Mount Pleasant. At that time, the town
name "officially" became Potter. As the principal station on the Santa Fe Railroad, between Atchison and Leavenworth, the
town prospered over the next several years. It gained its first newspaper
-- the Potter Press in 1898. In 1900, the Potter Leaf was
established, which was changed to the Potter Weekly Kansan three
years later.

By the turn of the century, it was the largest banking town in the southeastern part of the county
and boasted several general stores, implement and hardware houses, a
school, church, and 250 people.

Though the town did not continue to grow in
population, it seemingly grew in businesses. Buy 1916, it was boasting two
banks, two grain elevators, two general stores, a hardware store, grocery
store, furniture store, drug store, two barber shops, a cement tile
factory, a millinery store, a telephone exchange, two physicians, a dental
office, lumber company, the Potter Weekly Kansan newspaper, and a
large rural high school -- the first of its kind established in the state.

Like so many other flourishing agricultural
and railroad towns that flourished a century ago, Potter declined over the
years. The town is unincorporated today and very small, but it still
maintains a post office and one open business.